September 13, 2021 – Page 2 – Taiwan Wire Service

September 13, 2021

Nearly 100 migrant workers caught breaching indoor gathering rules

Almost 100 migrant workers from Vietnam were caught gathering at a restaurant in Taoyuan on Sunday, in violation of the central government's COVID-19 regulations on indoor gatherings which are capped at 80, local police said Monday.

Acting on a tip-off received at around 8:30 p.m. Sunday about undocumented migrant workers gathering for a party at a restaurant on Taoying Rd., police went to the restaurant run by a Vietnamese woman surnamed Nguyen, 33, according to Hsieh Ching-hua (???), the head of Dashu Police Station.

Upon their arrival, police heard noise inside though the restaurant's roll-up door was pulled down. Several police officers were assigned to guard the front and back doors to prevent people inside from running away and Nguyen was asked to show up at the restaurant, according to Hsieh.

Directed by Nguyen, restaurant employees then pulled up the front door and police found that in addition to around 40 people on the ground floor, around 50 others had gone into hiding on the top floor.

After checking, police discovered there were 102 people there -- including four restaurant workers and 98 customers, Hsieh said. The restaurant workers and customers are all from Vietnam.

Among the customers were two male undocumented migrant workers and a female migrant worker who had overstayed her visa, who will all be referred to the National Immigration Agency's special task force in Taoyuan for further action.

Police made a list of people involved in the gathering as the restaurant was in an apparent violation of COVID-19 regulations on indoor gatherings by providing service to nearly 100 customers at the same time.

The police report has been handed over to the city's Department of Public Health for further handling, according to Hsieh.

Taiwan earlier this month extended its current Level 2 alert against COVID-19 to at least Sept. 20 and raised the number of people allowed to gather at indoor events to 80 and outside events to 300.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel

September 13, 2021

Magnitude 5.6 earthquake jolts Nantou County

A magnitude 5.6 earthquake jolted Nantou County in central Taiwan at 6:41 p.m. Monday, according to the Central Weather Bureau (CWB).

The earthquake was centered in the county's Ren'ai Township, 40.9 kilometers east-northeast of Nantou County Hall, according to the CWB.

The earthquake's intensity, which gauges its actual effect, was highest in Nantou, Changhua, Hualien and Yilan counties and Taichung, where it measured 4 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale, the CWB said.

The quake also had an intensity of 3 in Miaoli, Yunlin, Hsinchu, Chiayi and Taitung counties, the CWB said.

No immediate damage or injuries from the quake were reported.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel

September 13, 2021

July employment, salaries rise amid improving COVID situation

Taiwan's employment numbers and average monthly regular salary both saw an increase in July from a month earlier amid the improving domestic COVID-19 situation, according to data released by the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) on Monday.

The number of people employed in Taiwan's industrial and service sectors at the end of July rose to about 8.065 million, up by 44,000 from a month earlier, data compiled by the DGBAS showed.

The number of jobs in the manufacturing sector surged by 15,000 from a month earlier, the hotel and food and beverage sectors posted an increase of 12,000, while the retail and wholesale sectors rose by 7,000, according to the data.

Meanwhile, the average monthly regular wage in the industrial and service sectors in July was NT$42,923 (US$1,549), a 1.28 percent increase from the same month last year and up 0.61 percent from June, the data showed.

DGBAS official Chen Hui-hsin (???) said that as the government had raised the nationwide COVID-19 alert to Level 3 in mid-May due to a spike in domestic COVID-19 cases, this led to a decline in employment and employee earnings.

However, with the COVID-19 situation improving, the government gradually eased its COVID-19 restrictions from July, allowing for a gradual pick-up in economic activity and an increase in jobs, Chen added.

For the wholesale and retail sectors as well as hotels and restaurants, where many employees returned to work, employees in these sectors saw a 1.91 percent and 3.75 percent growth in their average monthly regular earnings, respectively, from a month earlier, according to Chen.

As COVID-19 control measures were further relaxed in August due to the outbreak being brought under control, this plus the high tourism season during summer are expected to have given a boost to relevant industries and bolstered the job market in that month, Chen added.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel

September 13, 2021

Manufacturing sector sales, fixed asset investments hit Q2 high

Sales generated by the local manufacturing sector hit a new record high in the second quarter of this year largely on the back of rising demand for emerging technologies worldwide, according to the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA).

In addition, with the local semiconductor industry keen to invest in production expansion and technology upgrades, the manufacturing sector also saw its investment in fixed assets, excluding land purchases, hit a new high for the three month period, the MOEA added.

Data compiled by the MOEA's Department of Statistics showed revenue posted by manufacturers in Taiwan totaled about NT$7.9 trillion (US$285 billion) in the April-June period, up 23.9 percent from a year earlier and also up 9.1 percent from a quarter earlier.

The ministry said the record high sales for the second quarter, including revenue posted by production sites located overseas, largely reflected rising demand for emerging technologies such as 5G applications, high performance computing devices and automotive electronics, as well as smart gadgets.

The new high in sales also resulted from the cyclical recovery in raw materials industries including chemical, steel, machinery, auto/motorbikes and related components, the MOEA said.

In terms of fixed asset investments, the MOEA said in the wake of the global economic recovery, many manufacturers in the tech sector and the old economy segment, scrambled to invest more, boost production and meet growing demand.

Purchases of machinery and related items accounted for 80.2 percent of total fixed asset investments in the second quarter, and grew 26.8 percent from a year earlier, the ministry said.

In terms of individual industries, the electronic components industry invested NT$285.4 billion in fixed assets in the second quarter, up 32.5 percent from a year earlier, with pure wafer foundry operators, printed circuit board makers and memory chip suppliers serving as the main investors, the MOEA said.

Fixed asset investments by the electronic components industry accounted for 66.5 percent of the total in the second quarter, the MOEA added.

The computer and optoelectronics industry spent NT$13.7 billion on fixed assets in the second quarter, up 8.6 percent from a year earlier in a booming global stay-at-home economy, according to the MOEA.

The chemical materials and metal product industries invested NT$26.0 billion and NT$12.3 billion, respectively, in fixed assets in the three month period, up 34.3 percent and 15.9 percent from a year earlier, the MOEA said.

The machinery and base metal industries also saw their investments in fixed assets rise 37.3 percent and 13.7 percent, respectively, from a year earlier to NT$11.2 billion and NT$10.7 billion in the second quarter, the MOEA added.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel